Flag border maze
Flag Border Maze: US States
A 5×5 grid of US state flags. Start at the top-left flag and reach the bottom-right one, stepping only onto a state that borders the one you are on. One wrong step is a mine. A new maze every round.
- Steps
- 0/–
- Time
- Time left: 3:00
Start on the top-left flag and reach the bottom-right one. Each step goes one flag up, down, left or right, onto a state that shares a land border with the one you are on. From every flag on the way, exactly one of its neighbours (not counting the flag you came from) is a bordering state; any other one is a mine and ends the round. Names appear once you step on a flag. Keyboard: the arrow keys pick a neighbour, Enter steps onto it.
Finding your next challenge…
How it works, data and sources
Every round is generated for you. Start on the top-left flag and reach the bottom-right one, one cell up, down, left or right at a time, always onto a flag whose country shares a land border with the one you are on. Only the flags next to yours can be clicked. From every flag on the way, exactly one of its neighbours (not counting the flag you came from) is a bordering country; any other one is a mine and ends the round. Names stay hidden until you step on a flag, and the end of the round shows the whole path with every name. Keyboard: the arrow keys pick a neighbour, Enter steps onto it. A challenge link replays the same maze, in any language.
Each maze is checked as it is made: the path runs from corner to corner through different cells, every step is a land border, and from every flag on the path exactly one neighbouring cell other than the one you came from borders it. Flags you have already walked count too: none of them borders your flag, except the one you came from. Every place appears once per grid, and flags that are easy to mix up (Chad and Romania, Indonesia and Monaco, Ireland and Côte d’Ivoire, and many more) never sit side by side.
State borders are those of our US state border quizzes: river boundaries count. States that meet only at a point (the Four Corners: Arizona–Colorado, Utah–New Mexico) or face each other across a lake or a sound (Michigan–Illinois, Michigan–Minnesota, New York–Rhode Island) are never a step, and never sit next to each other where you walk. Twenty state flags are a seal on a blue field, easy to mix up: no two of them ever sit side by side.
A “Show names” switch shows every name from the start: the maze becomes a pure border puzzle, handy for learning. It is off by default.